


Glitter and Gold

by Rikkamaru



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Accidental Daemon Touching, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemon Separation, Daemons, F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 08:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13027551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikkamaru/pseuds/Rikkamaru
Summary: AU where humans have daemons but denizens of the Labyrinth do not.





	Glitter and Gold

Sarah Williams had a hummingbird daemon. He’d settled on her fifteenth birthday, and she hadn’t had to look at her step-mother to know the woman probably agreed with such a form. Tiny, beautiful but surprisingly aggressive when others encroached on their territory. But ultimately a small, relatively harmless creature. 

She smiled as her friends praised Cyril’s settled form, saying it fit the two of them, and had to bite her tongue again and again. It was only when they were alone in their bedroom that Cyril and she dropped the charade, his form quickly morphing into a cat to stretch out. “This is tedious,” he’d complain, and she’d hum in agreement and run a hand through his fur.

“Better than the alternative,” she mumble back, and he’d go silent because they’d both agreed to this plan. Telling everyone they’d settled at fifteen was already unusually late for most daemons, they didn’t want to contemplate what other people would say if they found out the two _still_ weren’t settled.

So they’d chosen a form they knew other people had anticipated for them, and Cyril would stay in that form as long as they needed. And it worked, but both of them acknowledged that it was rather miserable.

The discomfort certainly wasn’t helped with how often they were tasked with watching over their baby sibling, Toby and his tiny daemon Alecto crying for their attention constantly. But they both gritted their teeth and tried to get through it every time, not lashing out at Irene’s complaints that they were adults now and had to act like it by helping around the house. Sarah didn’t even _mind_ helping around the house; she just didn’t want to raise her baby brother in place of her disinterested parents.

It finally came to a head one day, and she’d finally lost patience with it all and wished her brother away to the goblins in a fit of temper, immediately regretting it afterward. Especially when she heard the pained scream of her brother’s daemon still in the room. Her stomach dropped in horror and, carefully, she and Cyr moved Alecto into a blanket where she could safely hold her. She looked up at the bemused Goblin King, and her voice was nothing but iron. “Bring him back.”

And so the two were taken to the Labyrinth, where she had thirteen hours to save her brother or lose him forever. As she moved Cyril made himself comfortable inside the blanket with Alecto, as committed to his hummingbird illusion as ever, and softly convinced Alecto to take the form of a baby turtle for better protection.

And so she went through the Labyrinth, making friends with a dwarf, a knight and a beast, and as she journeyed through the Goblin King’s lands she realized something crucial: none of the creatures she met had daemons. They all stood there, alone but for themselves, and looked confused the first and only time she asked about them. She had thought Ambrosius could be Sir Didymus’ but she’d seen the dog get injured and the knight respond only with anger and indignation, not shared pain.

Only once did she consider that they may not have a soul before she rejected the idea. They were all so beautifully, horribly _alive_ for that to be the case. “Do you think they just keep their souls in their bodies?” she asked Cy in fascination, and he twittered back in equal curiosity.

“Perhaps,” he said. “Could you even imagine? First impressions would mean nothing in such a place!”

“Well, nothing is what it seems around here,” she mused, quoting Hoggle. “It makes sense their physiology would match that.” She saw the others turn to her as they registered her voice but she just smiled and shrugged to let them know she was merely talking to ‘herself’. When they turned back around she let loose a surprisingly sad smile. “It sounds kind of lonely.”

Cy wiggled out of the blanket long enough to nuzzle her in comfort before returning to Alec’s side to try and sooth her pain.

When she bit into the peach Hoggle had given her, she only felt the fleeting sense of betrayal and understanding before she entered the dream realm. And, in truth she had a grand time there, dancing with the masked king and looking all around her at the smiling people. But something had felt off, and it took her several minutes to figure it out.

Cy wasn’t nearby, either engaging the man’s daemon in their own dance or next to her like he always was. She peered more carefully around her, and what she saw made her breath catch in panic. None of the people here had daemons, the gala full of people but horribly bare of the splashes of color and personality their souls would provide.

She broke out of the dream, and cradled the blanket to her chest, shaking from the adrenaline and fear. “You weren’t there,” she told Cy, arms tightening in an almost convulsive manner before she took a deep breath and forcefully let it out.

“You can tell these Goblin folk really aren’t used to daemons,” he said lightly, trying to distract her as she began to calm down. “What do you think they thought the other runner’s daemons were? Exotic pets?”

She giggled a little at that. “My, what a peculiar pet puffin they have,” she joked, and smiled as he twittered in amusement.

The end of the Labyrinth was both incredibly stressful and, in its own way, anticlimactic, as she jumped desperately to her baby brother’s side and managed to gently slide Alec into his arms without ever touching her. He immediately ceased crying, his soul’s proximity no longer giving him pain, and when he looked at her he started to coo. “Hey there, Toby,” she gave him an exhausted smile. “Let’s go home.”

And then the Goblin King appeared, frowning, demanding, pleading with her to stay. But she couldn’t, not with Toby’s life on the line still. “Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered,” she began to recite, watching as he seemed to coil up. “I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great. You have no power over me.”

He lunged out, trying to grab her even as the world around them dissolved, but then Cy was there, and for a second he looked like a large, gorgeous cat, fur golden with spots all along his body, and she was _certain_ he had settled; she felt it in his joy, in his own certainty, that this would be the form he would settle into in but another moment.

And then the Goblin King touched him in an effort to move him aside, and that moment was enough for everything to fall apart around them. Quite literally, too, as Sarah’s room came back into view the Goblin King took the form of an owl and flew away, eyes locked onto Sarah’s furiously the whole time.

It was after he’d left that she looked at Cy, hoping against all odds that what she had felt from him, the intense pain, the heartbeat of just as intense pleasure, the moment where she hadn’t been able to tell up from down and the earth had opened up beneath her, had only been an illusion. The distraught look he sent her back was all the grim confirmation she needed, and Sarah let a single tear slide down her cheek before she embraced him, gently pressing her face into his black and white feathers.

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” he said, but she only made a protesting noise in return.

“Don’t be. You were trying to protect me, how can I be upset?” She stroked his side before looking up, finally noticing the friends she’d made on her journey through the Labyrinth sitting on her bed, watching her with excitement. “We’ll talk later,” she whispered. “For now, let’s celebrate saving Toby, alright?”

He cawed in response and perched himself on her wardrobe as she flung herself amidst her friends, the happiness finally overtaking the fear and sadness she’d been feeling for hours now.

It was only after all of her friends left, Hoggle reminding her one more time to call on them if she ever wanted to talk, that she raised her arm and let Cy perch there. She stroked his back for a moment, the two of them basking in the close proximity they’d not permitted themselves while in the Labyrinth, before she went to check on Toby. He was sleeping soundly, arms tight around Alec, and she smiled at the sight. “Do you think they’re Severed?” she asked.

Cy peered closely at the two, cooing softly when it looked like Alec might wake up, before turning to her. “No,” he said resolutely. “Children are like rubber, and their bonds with their daemons are the same. They might be able to stray farther from each other than normal, but I don’t think they’re Severed. Any damage done to their bond will heal before it could carry over to their settling.”

“And now that we’ve made certain they’re alright,” he continued ruthlessly, eyes locked solely onto her, “you can tell me about the dance with the Goblin King.”

Her breathing stuttered for a moment at his words and she thought for a moment of lying, of telling him that nothing of interest happened, before squashing that instinct. She wasn’t going to make a habit of lying to herself, not after all of that. “It was…amazing,” she decided, looking away for a moment to collect her thoughts, “and utterly terrifying. It was everything I’d ever wanted but warped on itself, shadows where light should have been.”

“But the dance?” he prompted, and she felt a blush rising up on her cheeks.

“The dance was quite nice,” she admitted, eyes dropping in embarrassment until Cy nudged her gently.

“I’m not mad or disappointed or anything silly,” he told her, ruffling his feathers and letting them poof up for a moment before smoothing back down. “He was quite charming from what little I saw. In that dark manner that few men can pull off without instantly hitting the fight or flight response.”

“He really was. If Toby weren’t in danger and you were there…” she trailed off a little, but he tugged on her hair to wake her from her reverie.

“Let’s not think of it,” he told her, but his eyes were sympathetic, so she smiled a little and let him step off her arm to stand vigil over Toby while she cleaned up some of the mess her friends had made.

* * *

It would be a few days later that she finally had a chance to have a long conversation with Hoggle. Once again, she’d been charged with watching over Toby, though she’d accepted the request with far more grace this time. It made Irene and her swan daemon eye the two of them, but neither said a thing. They were probably still feeling guilty about their self-believed role in pressuring Sarah into hiding that her daemon wasn’t settled until the night in the Labyrinth, but she wouldn’t call them on it.

Once her parents were out again, she looked at the mirror in her room and smiled. “Hoggle, I need you.”

About ten seconds passed before the mirror rippled and Hoggle appeared on the other side, looking through it to her and smiling. “Sarah! Good to see you again!” He looked around her room through the mirror for a moment before sending her a sympathetic look. “Babysitting again?”

She nodded, glancing over at the crib which once again had Cy standing vigil over it. “I don’t mind anymore,” she told him. “If it helps my dad and Irene out, I can keep an eye on Toby while they’re doing other things. But don’t mind that; how have you been? And Ludo and Sir Didymus?”

They chatted casually for a few minutes, the others appearing occasionally to say hi and exchange well wishes with her. An hour had passed before Sarah steeled her nerves and gently interrupted him from talking about his garden. “Hoggle, do you remember when we were in the Labyrinth and I asked you about your daemon?”

“My what?” he parroted back on instinct before he seemed to remember this particular conversation as he let out an acknowledging sound. “Yeah, I remember that. Told you I had no idea what you were talking about. Still don’t, really. Why?”

She took a deep breath to help settle herself again. “I figured I should tell you what that means,” she told him. Cy took this as his queue to fly over and settle on her shoulder. “Hoggle, this is Cy. He’s my daemon.”

“Hello Hoggle,” Cy greeted, causing the dwarf to jump in surprise. “Good to see you again.”

“Er, hi,” Hoggle said, stumbling a little as he tried to process all of the new information he’d just gotten. “Wait, _again_? We’ve met?”

“I was in that blanket Sarah was carrying around as she ran the Labyrinth,” Cy explained, his feathers puffing out a little in mild discomfort. Neither of them were used to daemons talking to non-daemons, but his tell was more frequent than her occasional shifting. “I looked like a hummingbird then.”

“Oh, I think I do remember actually. Hummingbird sounds familiar at least.” Hoggle tried to digest everything again before shaking his head. “How about you explain what a daemon _is_ exactly before we continue this talk.”

Sarah felt herself blush in embarrassment for forgetting to do that and Cy’s feathers fluffed up even more for a second before he let out a cawing laugh and started preening her hair to ground her. “Right.” And so she began explaining daemons to him, the theory on why most humans create them, their changeable nature as children, Settling once one reaches emotional or mental maturity, even Severance. 

Hoggle stared at her as she finished. “So you humans keep your souls _outside_ of your body?” She nodded, and he stewed on that for a while. Finally, he asked, “Was Toby separated from his daemon when he was taken? I heard he was inconsolable the entire time he was there.”

Her breath hitched a little at the reminder, at the thought of being that far away from Cy herself, and she felt him shudder on her shoulder. “Yeah,” she admitted. “His daemon was in that blanket too. Even if I failed I didn’t want him to suffer.”

Hoggle looked intrigued. “So, you can touch other people’s daemons,” he realized. “I mean, yeah you can touch your own, and daemons can touch each other, but I didn’t think you could touch other people’s.”

Sarah made a face and tucked her hair behind her left ear, fixing the side Cy wasn’t perched on. “In theory you can touch other people’s daemons. In practice, it’s incredibly taboo. I was holding Alec in that blanket, I never made physical contact with her.” She floundered a little at Hoggle’s confusion. “If someone touches your daemon, you’re in direct contact with their _soul_. It’s…ridiculously intimate. It’s like electricity coming to life under your skin.”

“Sounds like you know from _personal_ experience,” he sounded amused and gently teasing, but she still felt Cy’s feathers puff up as she froze, left hand digging into her right arm where she’d crossed it. It only took Hoggle a moment to realize he’d overstepped somehow, and his face dropped. “Sorry Sarah. Wasn’t trying to upset you.”

She waved him off. “I don’t have personal experience, not really. It just…happened once. But it can have lasting effects if you aren’t careful.” But she remained tense, raising her right hand to smooth down Cy’s feathers as he made no move to do so himself. “Someone touched Cy right before he settled,” she said with a casualness she didn’t really feel. “It…influence his change.”

Hoggle’s subdued look gained a tinge of horror. “I didn’t mean to remind you of it,” he apologized, eyes looking away awkwardly

She smiled at him, and tried her best to hide the strain. “That’s alright. I don’t think we’ll ever forget really.” Cy shifted for a second then took off to return to his perch on Toby’s crib. He didn’t need to speak for her to know he agreed.

How could they possibly forget?

Hoggle watched his departure, taking in his black and white feathers and sharp beak, before returning his eyes to her. “What is he, anyway?”

The strain in her smile disappeared as she turned to glance at her daemon as well. “He’s a magpie. Kind of like a crow.” She heard Hoggle murmur in understanding but didn’t turn back to him until Cy looked back at her and flapped his wings in a shooing manner. She giggled a little and returned her attention to Hoggle, but her mind stayed firmly on her daemon’s form.

A magpie. Clever, inventive, free, vicious with what they treasured, with a memory that spanned longer than most humans understood.

And ever drawn to shining, glittering objects.


End file.
